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Idle Villager
On this page
  1. What it does
  2. Strengths
  3. Weaknesses
  4. Strong counters
  5. Situational counters
  6. What it counters
  7. Why matchups work
  8. Line, cost, and age
  9. Upgrades
  10. Mistakes
  11. Supporting units
  12. Civ exceptions
  13. Related

Counter finder

Bombard Cannon

Partial

siege · Siege Workshop · imperial Age

Long-range anti-siege and anti-building gun. The clean answer to Scorpion and Onager packs if you have it.

Idle Villager is current for Update 177723, with minor updates through 180059. Facts on this page were checked on 2026-09-19. Counters are not unconditional. Numbers, upgrades, terrain, and micro change the fight.

What it does

Park behind your army and delete siege. Guard with cavalry.

Strengths

  • Range 12.
  • Bonus vs siege and buildings.

Weaknesses

  • Minimum range 5.
  • Expensive.
  • Many civs lack it.

Strong counters

Strategic advice built on verified armor classes and unit access. Not unconditional.

  • Scout Cavalry · cost-effective · needs numbers, surround, or micro

    Hussars and Knights dive BBC. Minimum range is 5.

    • Halberdier bodyguards.
    • Other BBC.

  • Knight · spends gold to win · can win in equal numbers

    Same dive, more gold. Use if you already have Paladins out.

    • Do not send Paladins alone into Halberdiers plus BBC.

Situational counters

None published in this category yet.

What it counters

  • Scorpion

    BBC outranges Scorpions and has bonus vs siege. Guard it.

  • Mangonel

    BBC outranges Onagers.

Why matchups work

Range beats Scorpions and Onagers before they shoot. Cavalry ignore the range game.

Line, cost, and age

Verified fact from the aoe2techtree dat extract. Base stats, no civ bonuses.

Bombard Cannon line stats
UnitAgeHPAttackRangeArmorCost
Bombard Cannonimperial8040 melee122/5225w 225g

Upgrades

  • Siege Engineersimperial Age

    More range vs buildings and extra building damage.

Common mistakes when fighting it

  • Making BBC with no cavalry guard.
  • Assuming Khmer still have it. They lost it in update 36906.

Supporting units

Civilization-specific exceptions

These sit on top of the generic matchup, not inside it.

  • Khmer

    Bombard Cannon is not available.

    verified fact

  • Franks

    Have Bombard Cannon and Siege Engineers.

    verified fact

  • Byzantines

    Have Bombard Cannon, no Siege Engineers.

    verified fact